Land-leveling machine



G. A. GHENT.

LAND LEVELING MACHINE. APPLICATION FILED MAR. lo, 1919.

1,337,355. Patented Apr. 20, 1920.

2 SHEETS-SHEET l.

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G. A. GHENT. LAND LEVELING MACHINE. APPLICAILQN FILED MAR. 1o. |919.

Patented Apr. 20, 1920.

2 SHEETS-SHEET 2.

GEORGE A. GrI-I'EN'l, OF BUI-IL, IDAHO.

LAND-LEVELING- MACHINE.

Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented Apr. 20, 1920.

Application flied March 1o, 1919. serial no. 281,721.

To all whom t may concern.'

Be it known that'I,'Grnor.G1i A. GHENT,

a citizen of the United States, residing at Buhl, in the county of Twin Falls and State cation, reference being had to the accompanying drawings.

leveling or grading land.

The general object of the invention is to provide a very simple machine which may be used for leveling land by scraping off the soil in high places and carrying the soil to low places, and at the same time rolling the land to break up clods and level the sur-.

face after the scraper has passed.

i further Objectis to provide a device' of this character in which the fra-ine supporting the forward pair of rollers acting' to break up the clods may be detached from the body of the machine and used separately, or the machine used without the forf ward pair of rollers.

A further object is to provide a construction of this kind with a forward pair of rollers used for breaking up clods, a rear roller used for rolling and smoothing the surface of the soil after it has been scraped, and an intermediate scraper, and provide means whereby the intermediate scraper and the rear roller maybe adjusted to suit the enigencies of the occasion.

A further object is to provide a construe-p tion of this character wherein the scraper is resiliently urged into engagement with the soil andlwherein a pedal is operatively con-v nected to the scraper to adjust the angle of the scraping blade and carry it into operative position. Y

Other objects will appear in the course of the following description.

My invention is illustrated in the accompanying drawings, wherein Y l Figure 1 is a top plan View of a land leveler constructed in accordance .with my invention;

Fig. 2 isa longitudinal sectional view thereof, the rear and frontv rollers being shown in elevation; A

Fig. 3 is a vertical diagrammatic section Y of the front rollers;

Fig. A1 isa section on the line L1--11 of 7 n 14 ig. 6 is a sectional view on the same line as Fig. 4; but showing a modified form of of Idaho, have Yinvented certain new andV useful Improvements in Land-Leveling Maj chines, of which the following is a specifistaves; and

Fig. 7 is a fragmentary perspective view of the staves shown in Fig. 6.

Referring to these drawings, it will be v seen that my leveling' machine comprises a This invention relates t0 earth working-' machines, and particularly to .means for` is inclined slightly rearward and downward, and an intermediate transverse brace 13. Transverse bolts 1d may be disposed at any desired intervals so as to brace these runners and hold them securely in place. I do not wish to limit myself to any particular manner of connecting these runners to form the frame of the machine.

Resting upon the transverse braces 11 are the forwardly convergent beams 15 which carry at their forward ends the clevis or eye v16. These convergent braces are connected by means of a brace 1T and these convergent beams and the brace 17 together support the seat 18, the downwardly and forwardly extending seat supports 19, and the foot piece 20.

Pivotally supported intermediate the forward and rear ends of the runners 10 is the scraper 9.1. This consists of a transversely extending beam connected by ears 22 to the runners 10, to which these ears are pivoted. The scraper 21 is provided with a scraper blade 23 and normally the lower edge of this scraper with its blade extends slightly below the runners. lVhen the upper edge of the scraper is tilted forwardly, iowever, the scraper will, of course, be raised out of its operative position. The scraper is provided with the upwardly er:- tending arm 2d and mounted upon the brace 12 is a coiled spring 25 havingan upwardly extending arm connected by a cable 26 to the arm 2d, and from this arm the cable 26 extends to an arm 2T carried by a shaft 28 which is illustrated as being mounted within the seat supports 19, and as being provided' with a lever 29 operating over a sector 30. This lever is preferably in the from of a pedal so that the operator by a pres- Y will be distributed along the entire machine.

In order to provide means "for breaking sure of his foot may shift the lever to rotate the scraper into any adjusted position. When this pedal is released, the spring 25 will act to rotate the scraperto its operative position. The angle of the scraper may, of course be controlled by adjustingthe foot pedal 29 on the scraper 30.

The rear ends of the runners 10 are provided with a plurality of openings 31 arranged in vertical series, and through any of which openings the transverse rod 32 may be passed. This transverse rod supports the oppositely disposed arms 33 which are pivoted upon the rod, the rear ends of these arms carrying the transversely extending land rollei 34. rlhe arms extend forwardrand upward and are connected by means of a transverse brace 35. Disposed below the brace 35 is a rock shaft V36 having at one end a handle 37 and this rock shaft is formed at its ends with the curved Y portions 38 constituting cams, which beai' against the under face of the transverse g end of the roller so that the rear ends of the runners l0 will be lifted olf the ground.

When the brace 35 is depressed, however, the roller 34 will yrise to a level with the under faces of the runners, and the weight the clods or lumps of earth iii advance of Y the scraper where this is necessary, I provide a land roller comprising a frame 4() and having mounted thereon a tongue 4l which extends at its rear end over the frame and is provided with the hook 42 adapted to engage the clevis 16. This frame has an 'intermediate brace 48 and disposed on each side of the brace are the rollers 44. Each of these rollers comprises a head having annular,

inwardly extending flanges 4G at the perimstaves 4S which may be disposed nearer to or farther from each other as the exigen! cies of the case may require, and the heads are connected by longitudinally extending bolts r49. lt will be obvious that if the staves be placed close together, a roller haiT ing an almost unbroken or uninterrupted periphery will be provided, whereas if the staves are placed farther apart, there will be provided a roller which will have considerable irregularity in form and will, therefore, tend to break up and smash the 'clods or lumps of earth in front of the machine. It will be obvious 'that with this construction, staves of various forms may be used, and-as indicated. in Fig. 6, these staves 48a might have sharpened edges or corners' to more effectively break up the ground.

It will be obvious that the staves can be readily changed whenever desired. One of the drums'or rollers so formed will be keyed v'to the shaft oraxle 47 and vill rotate with very easy to guide. Furthermore, by forming this front roller frame 40 as described, it may be detached and used as a separate roller when desired. It will be also obvious that the team may be directly connected Yto the clevis l6`without the use of the forward roller frame when desired.

This machine in itsV practical embodiment will be approximately 26 feet long, and about 611- feet wide. Preferably, hard oil cups will be used in connection with all the bearings so as to secure requisite lubrication. The axle or shaft 47 and the rear shaft or the drum 34 wil'lbe supported by cast boxes bolted to the under sides of the supporting arms and the ends of the outsideboxcs will be closed to keep out A'dusty or sand. The rearmost roller 34 will be keyed to its shaft and this shaft will rotate in closed ended boxes. When this roller 34 is depressed', as before stated, vit will lift the rear end of the machine, and this will be particularly convenient when moving along a road or over culverts. It will be obviousv that the bolt 32 may be adjusted in the holes 3i so as to secure. a greater or less elevation of the rear end of theframe when the roller 34 is depressed. Preferably, the scraping blade 23 will be verticallyY adjustable upon the beam which forms the body of the scraper so as to secure a greater or less scraping action, and preferably the arm 24 wil'l have a plurality of perforations, and thecable 26 will be provided with a U-holt or clip whereby it may bey connected to the arm 24 and may be adjusted in ,any one of said perforations to thus secure greater or less leverage or a greater throw of the blade. If theV scraper blade should strike a stone or boulder or any other practically immovable object, which would tend to `break the scraper blade, the scraper blade willfmove backwardV so as to ride over this object against the tension of the spring 25 ajnd then as soon as the 'scraper blade has passed the object, the tension of the spring will cause the scraper blade vto return to its original and scraping position.

lt will be seen that in this machine, when in use the sills or runners will ride over the ground. The scraper is lower than the sills llO and, therefore, cuts any elevated portion of the ground and carries the cut dirt along between the sills or runners until a low spot is reached, when the dirt will be caused to fill up this low spot. If it is required to deposit the dirt at one place, the driver may dump the dirt by throwing the pedal 29 forward, which pulls the scraper lever forward, raises the rear end of the scraper, and leaves the dirt where required. Upon taking off his foot or releasing the pedal, the spring 25 will pull the scraper back to its original position. This scraper will be approximately 18 inches deep and in rough ground will carry a full load without the load going over the top of the scraper. rlhe forward rollers, as before remarked, break up the clods and lumps, the scraper levels the ground, and the rear roller finishes and rolls the ground. This machine is very effective and rapid in its work, as it simultaneously levels, rolls, and packs the ground, and it is particularly useful in leveling and rolling ground. designed to be irrigated.

I claim:-

l. An earth working machine of the character described comprising parallel runners braced from each other and having a forwardly extending frame mounted at its forward end and provided at its extremity with a clevis, a roller supporting frame having a tongue provided with a hook to engage said clevis, an adjustable roller vsupported on the rear ends of the runners, and means for adjusting said rear roller to elevate the rear portion of the runners and increase the weight of the front roller by pressure of the clevis on the tongue.

2. An earth working machine including parallel runners, the rear portion of said runners having a. series of openings, an adjustable bolt detachably engaged with one of said openings in each ruimer, arms pivoted to said supporting bolt, a brace connecting the front portions of the arms` a roller carrier at the rear ends of the arms, and means carried by the runners and operatively engaged with the brace for adjusting 'the roller.

3. An earth working machine of the character described comprising parallel runners braced from each other, a roller pivotally connected to the forward portion of said runner, arms pivoted to the rear ends of the runners extending rearward therefrom, a land roller rotatably mounted upon the rear ends of the arms, the forward ends of the arms being connected, a shaft having cams operatively engaging said arms, .the shaft being provided with an operating lever, cams, when the shaft is turned in one direction acting to depress the rear roller, a transversely extending scraper having forwardly extending ears pivoted to the runners and having a pivotally extending arm, a spring operatively engaging said arm to urge the upper end of the arm rearward and the lower edge of the scraper forward and into operative position, a manually operable lever, and an operative connection between said lever and said arm to thereby shift the scraper against the action of said spring.

4f. An earth working machine comprising a pair of parallel runners, braces connecting the runners, converging beams mounted upon the runners at their forward ends, a seat supported upon said beams, a forward roller supporting frame connected to said beams, a pair of independently rotatable rollers mounted in said frame, a supporting bolt extending through the rear ends of the runners, the rear ends of the. runners being provided with a plurality of perforations trough which the supporting rod may be passed whereby to adjust it, arms pivoted upon the supporting bolt, a roller carried at the rear ends of the arms, the forward ends of the arms being connected by a transverse beam, a shaft disposed below the beam and having forwardly extending curved cams and having an adjusting lever whereby to raise the forward ends of the arms and depress the roller, a scraper pivotally mounted between the runner and having an upwardly extending arm, a spring mounted upon one of said braces operatively connected to the arm, and a shaft mounted in conjunction with the seat and operatively connected to the upwardly extending arm and shiftable to shift the scraper against the force of said spring.

In testimony whereof I hereunto aiiix my signature in the presence of two witnesses.

GEORGE A. GHENT. Witnesses F. K. HYDE, Gro. L. LAYNE. 

